【推荐1】Most of the sandstorms that had swept China last year originated from foreign land, a Chinese official in charge of desertification control said Monday. And the invasions (入侵) could partly explain the frequent sandstorms in the country in recent years despite its achievements in desertification control.

Since the start of last spring, the north and northwestern Chinese regions had been hit by 17 sandstorms, of which, a dozen came from foreign land.

Situated in the central-Asia sandstorm region, one of the world’s four largest sandstorm sources, China also suffers from sandstorms from outside the country while being blamed as a sand source to northeast Asia. The other three major sources are in Africa, North America and Australia.

The land suffering from desertification has been decreasing by 7,585 sq.km annually in China, and the area of sandy land has also been falling by 1,284 sq.km a year.

The shrinkage (收缩) forms a clear contrast to the fact that the land suffering from desertification and sandy feature was added by 10,400 sq.km and 3,436 sq.km late last century, respectively.

Currently, the desertification land in China makes up 2.64 million sq.km, accounting for 27.46 percent of the nation’s land, and its sandy land totals 1.74 million sq.km, accounting for 18.1 percent of the country’s total.

【推荐2】Whether you’re interested in green agriculture and rainforest conservation or supporting sustainable sources, organizations worldwide are investing time and effort into various environmental protection projects. Volunteers are always needed to help with the different initiatives to protect the environment.

The past years has been bothered by an endless report of natural disasters occurring in geographically weak locations. Floods are affecting the places that previously never faced this problem while heat waves, droughts and earthquakes are becoming the norm. Important wildlife and plant species are disappearing and threatening the planet’s biodiversity. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), there are other problems: deforestation, pollution, water scarcity, illegal fishing and wildlife trade.

The ongoing industrialization and the lack of awareness are taking its toll (毁坏) and it’s time for that to change. Most people remain inactive, believing small changes won’t make a difference. However, there are many ways to help. Small changes carried out by some people do make a difference.

Excellent examples of this are organizations that believe small initiatives have a significant impact. These projects arc growing steadily and positively affecting the environmental conservation and influencing the local community. They are creating awareness among others and helping them understand the importance of environmental conservation while creating volunteer opportunities to help the environment.

The organizations will learn valuable skills about environmental conservations but most importantly, they are moving towards change. There are enough environmental volunteer opportunities that need your help and there’s no time to waste! Continue reading about environmental volunteer programs abroad and take steps toward environmental conservation.

There are plenty of options once you decide to become an environmental volunteer. The tasks will depend on the project you have decided to volunteer with and can vary greatly. With over 130 projects focusing on the environment, you’ll find projects that match both your skill set and travel preference.

【推荐2】BE A GOOD TOURIST

Tourism can be both good and bad.     1    

One growing problem is tourists who want to prove that they have visited a destination. Tourists have used paint, rocks, or even keys to write on the Luxor temple in Egypt, the Colosseum in Rome, Stonehenge in the UK, memorial stones at the bottom of Qomolangma, and many, many other places.     2     I have three words for people like this: please stop it. If you want to leave a mark on the world, do it by changing someone’s life with kindness and love. Pass kindness along to future generations, not destruction (破坏)。

    3     Some tourists wander around and take pictures of local people without asking for their permission. For example, Chiang Mai University in Thai l and Yonsei University in South Korea have great numbers of tourists visiting their campuses and walking through their libraries and other public areas, taking pictures of students, and disturbing their studies. Another example is Sanlitun, a neighbourhood in Beijing, China. Some tourists love to party there late into the night, making it difficult for locals to sleep.     4     Have fun in a way that does not disturb others.

The number of problems from tourists is endless: walking in large groups without considering others who need to walk by, crossing roads without thinking of local traffic laws, and many more. The only way to solve the problem of the terrible tourist is to make sure that you are not one!     5     Remember, whenever you step outside your country’s borders, you are representing(代表) your country to the rest of the world.

【推荐3】People who are at your age, like your classmates, are called peers. When they influence you on your decision or action, it’s called peer pressure. All of us, at some point in our lives, have had to deal with peer pressure.

Recent studies have shown that peer pressure might cause an upside to you. It can make you reflect on your actions and make changes to your ways to become a better one. Observing others working hard to reach their goals will definitely encourage you to make a great effort to achieve something positive. When a teen knows that his teammates are practicing hard to become better players then it will directly affect his own performance. He will put in twice the time and energy to raise the level of his game and ensure he has a place on the team.

Having a group that brings positive peer pressure can also help you pick up healthy habits that can shape both your personality and your future. For example, when a child knows that some of his friends regularly read storybooks, he may get into the habit of reading. Seeing that his friends exercise daily, even he may take up the habit.

Just as some influences can be positive, some can be negative too. Peer pressure sometimes can make a fall in your self-confidence. Some kids give in to peer pressure because they want to be liked, or because they worry that others might make fun of them if they don’t go along with the group. The idea that “everyone’s doing it” can influence them to leave their better judgment behind. Besides, it is common for teenagers to think that nobody understands them and that the whole world is against them. The influence of peer pressure is such that it keeps them completely away from their family and friends who mean well. They just shut themselves off and fall into bad company.

It’s likely that you’ve experienced the impact of peer pressure in different areas, ranging from the clothes you wear to the music you listen to. Sometimes it can be hard to resist(抵抗) and you may feel forced to do something you’re uncomfortable with. So being aware of and carefully choosing the influence of peers that will lead to healthy and happy experiences is a lifelong process.

【推荐1】One in four people around the world is at the risk of facing dangerous water shortages. Seventeen countries face “extremely high water stress” because they use 80 percent of their available water each year. The situation is made worse by a rise in dry periods linked to climate change, the World Resources Institute (WRI) said.

New information from WRI's Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas showed the countries suffering most are in and around the Middle East and North Africa. The Atlas helps governments, investors, and other users understand where and how water risks arise worldwide. It uses a special method and the best-available data to create customizable global maps of water risks.

Qatar is the most water-stressed country, followed by Israel. India ranks 13th among “extremely high” water-stressed nations. But with a population of more than 1.3 billion, it has more than three times the people in the other 16 countries combined, which means besides plenty of fresh water, much more is demanded for Indian daily life, agricultural development etc., resulting in the higher likelihood of water shortages for the country than the other 16.

India's city, Chennai, was the latest city worldwide to warn it could be without water, as water storage levels fell. “That followed a similar announcement from Cape Town last year. It’s good that there's just one city mentioned,” said Betsy Otto, Director of WRI's Global Water Program. “But more of these kinds of “Day Zeros” are round the comer. And soon, the situation will be different, with more people put in a tight spot.”

Many things threaten the worlds water supplies, from climate change to poor supervision, according to WRI. “High dependence on groundwater supplies, which are decreasing, is an added concern,” Paul Reig said. He leads work on the WRI Atlas. Reig noted groundwater supplies are difficult to manage because they're deep below the Earth’s surface. Nearly a third of fresh water is groundwater. “It's poorly understood. We have got to get down studying it deeply and quickly, working for more available fresh water?”

【推荐2】Have you ever wondered if you see the same colours as other people? Most people know what blue is when they see it. They see the colour and call it “blue” because they were taught the word and associated it with what they saw. But how do you know what you see as blue isn’t someone else’s red?

The ability to perceive colours is down to receptors in our eyes. Light waves hit these receptors and they react depending on which colour the light is, sending signals to the brain. The brain then decodes these signals to determine which colour light the eyes are receiving. Some people’s receptors are more developed than others. People with weaker receptors usually have colour blindness. The inability of the receptor to interpret the light waves correctly means that some people cannot tell different shades of a colour.

In the past, most scientists would argue that everyone saw colours in the same way. However, research was conducted on monkeys, in which they were injected with a virus affecting their receptors. This enabled them to understand more colours than usual and brought an interesting discovery. Normally monkeys can only see blue and green, but the virus allowed monkeys to see red. The neurons (神经元) in their brains adapted to be able to understand new colours, which might mean the neurons in our brains are not instinctive (本能的) to automatically understand which colour is which. This implies that our brains and neurons may adapt depending on our stimulus (刺激) during the developmental phase. Colour could be a very personal experience, unique to everyone.

So, the next time you talk about your favourite colour, just remember if yours is blue and your friend says red, you might actually be thinking about the same colour. What if everyone in the world has the same favourite colour, but just calls it different names?